Employees who experience one of the qualifying life events (QLE) in this list can either enroll in an FSA outside of the normal eligibility window (if they don’t already have one), or make changes to their FSA contributions (if they have one).
- Change in legal marital status (i.e., marriage, legal separation, divorce, or death of employee’s spouse).
- Change in employment status (for employee, their spouse, or dependent) that affects eligibility for health insurance benefits.
- Change in number of tax dependents.
- Birth or date an employee adopts a child, or placement for adoption.
- Death of spouse or dependent.
- Change in dependent’s eligibility (for example, employee’s child reaches age 13 where he/she is no longer eligible under a Child & Elderly Care FSA).
- For Child & Elderly Care FSAs only, a change in child care/elder care provider or cost or coverage, such as a significant cost increase charged by the current day care provider, or a change in the day care provider.
Changes to an existing FSA must reflect the nature of the event. Learn more.
Employees have 30 days from the QLE to make changes or enroll in an FSA. The change to the FSA or the enrollment into the FSA will be effective the first of the month in which the employee incurred the QLE.
